Time for new charger

[t8kiteasy]

How is everyone tonight vaping I hope? My current charger Nitecore intelle. V4 is fading only two channels charging at this point. I am going for either the efest Blu6 found it for cheaper price than the LUC V4. I have lots of sets of batteries and my question is to anyone who has this one coming from a four bay, is the charge time any better than a four bay ?

 

[Jim_ MDP]

How is everyone tonight vaping I hope? My current charger Nitecore intelle. V4 is fading only two channels charging at this point. I am going for either the efest Blu6 found it for cheaper price than the LUC V4. I have lots of sets of batteries and my question is to anyone who has this one coming from a four bay, is the charge time any better than a four bay ?

Depends, how do you charge regularly?

I like the 4x1Amp charging on my LucV4, I use it often.
It's the best feature to me, considering neither the Nitecores nor Xtars will do that.
But I haven't seen evidence that the 6 bay has upped the capacity.

What is the LucV6's max 6 cell rate?
Did they lower it? Or, if it's 6x1A... is a capable power supply included, or an extra purchase?
Anyone?

 

[t8kiteasy]

The blu6 is still max 4 amps across all six bays. I generally married my batteries on the Nitecore for two cells as usual bays one and three or two and four. And the same for my triple sets just rotating each charge between the third batt each charge(can't charge three any longer as two bays are out). On the Nitecore it seemed like it took forever for a charge on a set of batts. I know on the blu6 the charge will be .368 per channel I believe ? I am just trying to figure out if the luc4 would be the better buy or just get the blu6 for the extra two slots and deal with the charge time. As I said i found both chargers for the same price (two different online sites) .

 

[Jim_ MDP]

The blu6 is still max 4 amps across all six bays. I generally married my batteries on the Nitecore for two cells as usual bays one and three or two and four. And the same for my triple sets just rotating each charge between the third batt each charge(can't charge three any longer as two bays are out). On the Nitecore it seemed like it took forever for a charge on a set of batts. I know on the blu6 the charge will be .368 per channel I believe ? I am just trying to figure out if the luc4 would be the better buy or just get the blu6 for the extra two slots and deal with the charge time. As I said i found both chargers for the same price (two different online sites) .

The Nitecore 4 bays limit to like 350mA with 4 cells charging. It's pitiful.

I'd expect the blu6 to still allow 4x1 (it should be 666mA per with 6 if it does 4A across the bays) and if so, barring some bad news about quality (my V4 has been fine) I'd get the blu6 for the extra bays, even if slower, and use the higher rate with just four when I wanted a faster charge (I've only used the 2A rate on 26650s, not 18650s).
Plus the geeky BT monitoring as a bonus.

I just got a Black Friday deal on an Xtar 4 bay. It's limited to 2x1A or 4x0.5A, but I'll live with that because it also charges NiMH chemistry and that's what I wanted it for. Working well so far.

 

[t8kiteasy]

O.k. Thanx I am going to get the six bay and yea the Nitecore is pitiful for charge rate. The best part is I will be able to keep triple pairs married together and charge two sets at a time and three sets of double (as the bays are independent from what I read).

Marrying batts on a four bay is a pita especially if you need more than one or two sets not to mention it seemed like the charge takes forever.

 

[Jim_ MDP]

You may be overthinking what "married" means for our battery sets.

-Charge them to the same voltage level (doesn't need to be together, just preferably the same charger. Mis-matched bays is a separate challenge.).
-Discharge them together.
-Keep the charge cycles within a handful (or a dozen) of one another.*
(* A "cycle" is the charging of one "total mAh capacity" of the cell". Topping off a partially drained cell counts as a portion towards a cycle.)

According to Mooch... that's it.

 

[t8kiteasy]

Yea that is what I was talking about. With the Nitecore you have to use opposite bays for doing that
1 and three - 2 and 4. That is the pita I was referring to.

 

[DaveP]

I vote for the LUC 4 if you want to charge 3 or 4 18650s at 1A simultaneously.

I like my Xtar VC4, but it's limited to sockets 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 in the sled for simultaneous charging at 1A. That said, it's a good charger that provides MAH cumulative charge data as the cell charges.

My Nightcore i4 is getting very little use these days. I used to charge NiMH AAA cells with it but it heats those cells too much. The Xtar VC4 charges them quickly and without overheating them.

The LUC 4 and the Xtar VC4 sit beside each other on the kitchen counter these days and both get plenty of use.

 

[t8kiteasy]

I went with the efest blu6 ,I like being able to check on batteries with my phone instead of getting up every two-three hours. I would of have this charger a long time ago over my Nitecore V4 if it were available that long ago. Quick charging was not the biggest interest to me I just wanted to get away from (busted anyway) charger that I had to use opposite bays for charging sets of batts,that was a real PITA having to go thru that all the time.

 

[DaveP]

I went with the efest blu6 ,I like being able to check on batteries with my phone instead of getting up every two-three hours. I would of have this charger a long time ago over my Nitecore V4 if it were available that long ago. Quick charging was not the biggest interest to me I just wanted to get away from (busted anyway) charger that I had to use opposite bays for charging sets of batts,that was a real PITA having to go thru that all the time.

I've looked at that charger, but I've already got three others, so I'll wait for one to die and then trade up! It would be nice to have a phone app for monitoring. I love cool toys.

 

[t8kiteasy]

This new charger has come in handy especially with the 20 MNKE batts I got today(running low on batts). It is still $30.00 with Free shipping at IMR if anyone is in the market for a new charger. I almost wish I had another outlet next to it I would have got two. Anyway, it works and saves you from getting up every few hours to check your cells by looking on the BT app.